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The Translator: A Tribesman's Memoir of Darfur | 
 enlarge | Author: Daoud Hari
Publisher: Random House
Category: Book
List Price: $23.00
Buy New: $12.96
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Avg. Customer Rating:  17 reviews
Sales Rank: 8152
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 224
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.8 x 1
ISBN: 1400067448
Dewey Decimal Number: 962.4043092
EAN: 9781400067442
ASIN: 1400067448
Publication Date: March 18, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand new item. Over 3.5 million customers served. Order now. Selling online since 1995. Order with confidence. Code: B20080704211911T
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Product Description
I am the translator who has taken journalists into dangerous Darfur. It is my intention now to take you there in this book, if you have the courage to come with me.
The young life of Daoud Hari–his friends call him David–has been one of bravery and mesmerizing adventure. He is a living witness to the brutal genocide under way in Darfur.
The Translator is a suspenseful, harrowing, and deeply moving memoir of how one person has made a difference in the world–an on-the-ground account of one of the biggest stories of our time. Using his high school knowledge of languages as his weapon–while others around him were taking up arms–Daoud Hari has helped inform the world about Darfur.
Hari, a Zaghawa tribesman, grew up in a village in the Darfur region of Sudan. As a child he saw colorful weddings, raced his camels across the desert, and played games in the moonlight after his work was done. In 2003, this traditional life was shattered when helicopter gunships appeared over Darfur’s villages, followed by Sudanese-government-backed militia groups attacking on horseback, raping and murdering citizens and burning villages. Ancient hatreds and greed for natural resources had collided, and the conflagration spread.
Though Hari’s village was attacked and destroyedhis family decimated and dispersed, he himself escaped. Roaming the battlefield deserts on camels, he and a group of his friends helped survivors find food, water, and the way to safety. When international aid groups and reporters arrived, Hari offered his services as a translator and guide. In doing so, he risked his life again and again, for the government of Sudan had outlawed journalists in the region, and death was the punishment for those who aided the “foreign spies.” And then, inevitably, his luck ran out and he was captured. . . .
The Translator tells the remarkable story of a man who came face-to-face with genocide– time and again risking his own life to fight injustice and save his people.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 12 more reviews...
 Another Rwanda June 30, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Daoud Hari is indeed a blessed man to have survived capture and imprisonment- risking his life to tell the world of the human tragedy called Darfur. This book speaks volumes of his profound courage and of the brave reporters and others who ventured right into the line of fire so that the world will know. The heartbreaking descriptions of the carnage is hard to read at times, but I am most haunted by the child sitting in the grass who stopped crying and waved goodbye as Daoud and the news crew had to run for their lives. This is one man's tale of survival on a tragic journey and his willingness to fight injustice. He is blessed because there are those who must survive to tell the world. We can each make a difference.
The Translator June 4, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I just finished reading Hari's memoir, having read "The Kite Runner", similar yet different. Hari's exposure of the atrocities in Darfur and neighboring regions is gripping and informative. His story of escape, tenacity, and faith is compelling in that it defines and redefines what it means to be human. He uses the notion of being HUMAN to plead his case, refocus country-men fighting against their own, and admonish readers to support present day initiatives in place for Darfur. Congratulations, Daoud! Keep living and keep writing.
 A nicely done personal history of a large, sad tale June 2, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Unfortunately, the only thing that 99.999% of the world associates with the word "Darfur" is death, hate and tragedy. Daoud Hari's small memoir reminds the reader that Darfur was once home to millions - a place of family, friend, play and work.
That is the strongest asset of this short work - it puts a human face on a large tragedy. Written in simple, elegant English and with a wry sense of humor ("Most people like me, are tall - I am six feet - and are also a little thin because of all the walking, the hard work and the dieting that is one of the many advantages of poverty."[p. 108]), this book is an extension of Hari's way of fighting back against the forces that are destroying Darfur. Rather than taking up arms, Hari decided to expose Darfur to the world by escorting journalists from Chad into Darfur in Sudan.
This was not a choice for the faint of heart. Journalists and their guides were considered to be spies by the government of Sudan. Hari and his journalists were exposed to gunfire, captured multiple times and eventually one group was captured, tortured and eventually released through the efforts of former presidential candidate and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson.
Before reading the book, I suggest reading "Appendix 1: A Darfur Primer" at the end of the text. It helps give his story some context.
A REAL thriller with lots of violence, action, and plenty of mystery! May 14, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This book has all the ingredients of a best-selling thriller, unfortunately though all of it is the true and real memories of Daoud Hari's experience of the genocide in Darfur.
I want to thank the author of this book, Daoud Hari, for teaching me about the situation in Darfur. In the past, I've read newspaper and magazine articles, watched television and listened to radio broadcast that all had information on new events happening in that part of the world. After taking in this information I always felt just a little less ignorant, however I still didn't understand the big picture because as Daoud Hari has stated...This is not a simple genocide, but a complicated one. After reading his book, I understand better than ever the events that lead to this current and ongoing insanity.
If you are like me, feeling helpless against the terrible atrosities that are happening in Darfur and other areas of the world, read this book, then pass it on, write about it and talk about it. Awareness is paramount. If enough people all over the globe voice their concerns, how can world leaders continue to stand silent?
Collectively we all have to decide whether genocide is tolerated as a solution to conflict. What the world decides now will determine whether genocide will happen again somewhere else. It needs to be stoped now.
Gladly recommend this book to anyone who continually wants to understand world affairs.
The Translator May 4, 2008
Riveting story. Well told with simplicity and even a sense of humor in a very humorless situation.
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